Walking in the presence of the Lord. He walked within the Lord all the way. He trusted in His word. If we follow Jesus, He will lead, He will supply our every need. Wait, keep trustin' in His Word I'll wait, keep lookin' for the sign Watch and pray, keep watchin', trustin' all the way Look, keep watchin', pray every day Jesus is our Savior, God and King We can look to Him forever You're only the last chance Walking in the goodness of the Lord He's walking with the Lord all the way He trusts in His Word every day He's looking for the sun, watching rain He's walking, trusting all the way He's walking, watching rain every day so Amen. Alright, thank you kids for your participation this morning. And we'll dismiss the little ones who both miss a chore to crash. And the rest of us can open up our Bibles again to Luke chapter 22 and the story of the Lord Jesus Christ and Peter. Alright, so if you've got a Bible, can you open it back up to Luke chapter 22. And we'll let them get settled. Alright, I recently spoke with some kids at the park in our area here and it was interesting because somebody was there that had visited our church before in the past and she was kind of pretending like she didn't know us because of the intimidation and peer pressure of being with kids her age and seeing us. But the kids were kind of being silly and they said something about they were Christians too. And I said, oh really? I said, do you know what a Christian is? And of course, they said, yes, they said a Christian is someone who believes in God. And that's our world's definition, isn't it? It's this abstract idea. I mean, you've got to believe in God and even believe in Jesus Christ. And that makes you a Christian because you believe in God. But you know, biblically, that has nothing really, in essence, to do with being a Christian. A Christian is so much more than that. And I asked him, I said, do you remember who Jesus was? And he said, yes. And I said, do you remember what happened to Jesus? And he said, yes. I said, what? And he said, he was crucified. And I said, and if you were a follower of Jesus back then, and he was crucified, what do you think would happen to you? And the answer is, you would maybe face crucifixion as well as some of the apostles did. Or you face imprisonment, or you face beating, or you face mockery, or you face ostracism for your family. To be a Christian back in the day was to risk everything. And so today, to say I'm a Christian, well, it kind of means very little because there's very little persecution associated with that word. And I told those kids, I said, in our day, a Christian would dress modestly, speak without profanity, or take God's name in vain, watch only good movies, listen only to good music. It's kind of blowing them away. And they said, well, what's good music? And they said, do you listen to this? And they named some group. And I looked at them saying, I have no idea who that is. And they thought I was from another planet. And I said, no, I have no clue. I said, but if you look at the case, are they dressed modestly? They go, well, they're not dressed like you. I said, well, how are they dressed? And they said, in one case, they said something perverse. Basically, men on the cover are dressed in a way that's appropriate for women. I said, well, you know that's wicked, right? See, what they wanted was not Christianity like the world teaches that identifies with Christ, has a lifestyle that's like Christ, and is treated in the same way as Christ. What they wanted was Christianity that was popular. Christianity that's mainstream, accepted by the world. Everybody pats you on the back and says, my, what a good Christian you are. But that's not the kind of Christianity that God has called us to. God has not called us to Christianity in name alone. He's called us to take a stand with Him. And if we take a stand with Christ, how are we to expect to be treated? We ought to expect to be treated like Christ. That's what the Bible teaches, Matthew 10, 22-25, it says, And ye shall be hated of all men for my namesake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in a city, flee you into another. For verily I say unto you, they shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It's enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? What did they call Jesus? They called him Satan. If we call Jesus Satan, shouldn't we expect this morning that maybe somebody in the world is going to also call us Satan? Yes, you know, I got a call last week, I told you about a week ago, Friday, and it was somebody cursing me out for Christianity. You know, and the Bible says, Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall curse you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake. For even so did they treat the prophets. The world has always hated Christ. Always. And so, if I have a Christianity that is patted on the back by the world and said, that's great. Do I really have biblical Christianity? And the answer is, absolutely not. Absolutely not. And so, in our story, the sporting, God brings situations into Peter's life that eventually it's going to lead to Peter clearly identifying with Christ as a believer. We're going to let Peter be an example this morning. He's obediently followed the Lord as a disciple already. You remember the story? He's there with his boat. Jesus comes and they go out and he says, cast your net on the other side. And he says, follow me. And Peter follows him. Peter has already said, we believe you're the Messiah. Peter has seen the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ and seen the glory of God and heard the voice of God speak saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Peter has seen miraculous working of the Lord as he brings somebody back from the dead or as he heals somebody. Peter is, at this point in his life, he's an Old Testament believer. Perhaps the commentators believe that he's saved already. I'm not 100% sure, the Bible is not extremely clear when it comes to Peter's salvation. Jesus uses the term conversion in our passage, but certainly we know that Peter was a Old Testament believer, trusting in the Messiah. We know that he will become a New Testament believer, trusting in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming to that. He's going to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit before Pentecost and he's going to be that bold preacher that stands up before thousands of people that crucified Christ and say, you have taken by wicked hands, you have crucified and slain the Lord. So between this point in the story and about 60 days later, or 50, There is an unbelievable change that is going to take place in the life of Peter that Jesus regards to as his conversion. It doesn't really matter this morning if it's his conversion by way of consecration, he wasn't dedicated to the Lord, he's saved, but he's not consecrated, or if he's unsaved and he's going to get saved. It doesn't really make that much difference to what we're going to consider this morning, because both apply. The truth applies to both of these conditions. So what we want to consider is what takes place around conversion. As Christ is speaking to Peter, what takes place before this transformation in Peter's life? And let's bow our heads and pray. Father, I thank you for the grace that you give to us. I thank you for the Word of God this morning. And Father, I pray that you take away distractions and hindrances to your Word. And I pray that we could attend upon the Word without distraction. Father, the truth is, what Peter got is what we need. Father, we're going to see his failure primarily today in our study of these four verses that surround the Lord's letting him know about the failure that was going to take place. And yet Peter becomes somebody that ought to be enviable to us in the Word of God that we look at and say, Dear God, help me to be a man like the Apostle Peter. So I pray the Holy Spirit will lead. I pray the Holy Spirit will guide. I pray for liberty in my preaching and teaching. I pray that you give us a very keen ability to listen to the Word of God today and as we've already prayed that you speak to every heart that's here. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. The first thing that the Lord does with Peter as he's going to bring Peter to the truth about his conversion is he calls him to attention. He calls him to attention. In verse 31, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon. Peter was Simon's surname. He was Simon Peter. And so, by his first name, the Lord twice calls him and says, Simon, Simon. And then he goes on to say, Satan hath desire to sift you. The you is plural. The you is the disciples. There's going to be failure that we know of in the part of the Apostle Peter as he denies Christ, but this failure is in the group. It's not just one. But as a spokesperson, as Peter was, we know Peter was very bold to say what he was thinking and often spoke for the disciples. As his role is in that leadership position, he is also the one that the Lord Jesus says to our Peter, upon this rock I will build my church. And he's the beginning of the church as he preaches at Pentecost. And people are saved, filled with the Spirit, and added to the church. So he's a key person. But it's the Lord in His love stopping and taking the time to say to Peter, Simon, Simon. It's a loving way of speaking to Him. Getting His attention and having Him listen. You know, there's been times where God speaks individually to people in the Word of God. He does. And what's interesting is how many in those times he says her name twice, just like he does here with Simon. See if you hear it in these examples. You won't hear it in the first, but in the ones after it. Remember Adam, Genesis 3, 9? And the Lord called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? It doesn't tell us in that verse how he said his name, but perhaps he said it in the way that he does so often in scripture. Perhaps he said, Adam, Adam. Adam was where? Hiding. Why was Adam hiding? Because of his sin. And so the Lord reaches out to him in his sin and cries out, Adam, where art thou? God had a desire to personally call unto this man, Adam. Abraham, Genesis 20 to 11. It says, and the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, He said, here am I. Do you remember Abraham in the Bible? Abraham, the man that God called out to go into a different place and to be the leader of a great nation that God himself was going to oversee. We're all children of Abraham because we've entered into the covenant promise through the Lord Jesus Christ. God had promised Abraham, said, you'll be the father of many nations. And as Americans or British citizens or as any other people group in the world, those that have trusted in Christ have become children of Abraham. And you see God's love for Abraham as he comes to them and says, Abraham, Abraham. And Abraham said, here am I. Remember Moses at the burning bush at Exodus 3, 4 says, And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Jeremiah. Again, twice using his name. Imagine, put your name there. And he said, Ben, Ben, or your name, twice calling you. Why? because God had a desire to meet with Moses on that day. Samuel, 1 Samuel 3.10, the word came and stood, called us at other times and said, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, speak for thy servant here. Again, twice calling the name of that individual, getting his attention, because there was a great work that God wanted to do as a prophet for his people. Acts 9.4, remember that guy named Saul? Before he got saved, later became the Apostle Paul. Acts 9.4, he fell to the earth and he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Before somebody can get converted, what does God have to do? God has to get their attention. And in those cases, there's different things going on, but there's a big task that God has for this individual. It's a big responsibility. And he lovingly gets their attention and says their name and gets them to stop and listen to him. Did Jesus have a hard time getting Peter's attention? No. He just turned to him in love and said, Simon, Simon. Today, is God seeking to get your attention? There's different ways that you can look at your life and say, you know, God's trying to get my attention. Are you thinking more now about God than you have ever in your life? Well, maybe that's God reaching out to you. Are there situations in life that are causing thoughts to think and to say, you know, maybe there is more to this than I understand or God wants something else for my life? You know, is God seeking to speak to you? Because if he does, he certainly is not going to have a problem getting your attention. There's so many times I've witnessed the people I'll speak to them for a while and I'll say, you know, the Bible speaks about being born again. I said, do you know anybody that's born again? And you know, it's not surprising that many times the answer is, yes, my sister, my mom, my dad, my uncle, and they have somebody close to them that's saved. And I don't go, wow, what a coincidence. Here you got somebody saved in your family, they're born again, and I'm speaking to you about the Lord. You know what I think? I think you've got somebody in your family that's praying about you, that cares about you, that's lovingly asked God to speak to you, and you know what He is, and He's speaking to you right now. We call them divine appointments. It's God reaching out to somebody, maybe in their life they never think about God, they never think about eternity, they never think about everlasting life. But at that moment in their life, they're confronted with something, and it's God knocking on their front door saying, Simon, Simon. And he's going to lovingly reach out to this man. God's not going to have difficulty speaking to us when he wants to do so. But Peter had to turn and listen to the Lord. Peter could have been too busy doing something else, but God had a message for Peter and Peter is going to get it. So what happens around conversion? Jesus calls us to attention. He does something to get our attention. Satan's power over us is revealed. He says to Peter, he said, Behold, Satan hath desire to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Sifting wheat, shaking it out, getting the chaff off of it so that you can have those precious kernels of wheat. Satan was seeking to take the precious life of the disciples. He wanted to shift them like wheat. You know, Jesus is giving us a behind-the-scenes look. Have you ever seen Satan? No. Have you ever seen a demon? Well, praise God, I have not, although I believe at times they can be seen. So, there's this realm that's out there, we can't see into it to understand exactly what's taking place there, but the Lord gives the disciples information that he has, and he says, look, Satan desires to sift you like wheat. Again, you is plural, meaning disciples, not just Peter. He wants them, he desires them. How did Christ know? Because Satan has to ask permission. Satan can't attack anybody outside of the authority of God. And so, there is this that is taking place, and Jesus knew Satan's desires to destroy Him. He knows that God, in His wisdom, is going to allow this desire of Satan's to be satisfied. It's going to take place. But He has the grace to warn His disciples and say, look, Satan desires you. Satan has great power that is going to basically tempt you, and in Peter's case, he's going to deeply fail. You know, why would Satan launch such a great offensive at this time? Well, what has just taken place, and we've not read this in the story, but what has just taken place is Last Supper. So where are we? We're on our way to the Garden, and soon Jesus Christ will be on his way to triumph. And at this time, Satan is basically going to be unleashed in his power to have his way with Christ at the cross. It's going to be no holds barred. It's not going to be God in his mercy giving any grace to the Lord Jesus Christ or any saying the punishment of our sin or the payment of our sin in any way. And so at this time, Satan is going to have his way, even with the disciples. that the Lord Jesus Christ goes to the cross. You know, have we ever seen a story in the Bible that speaks about the same idea of Satan desiring somebody? Yes. The Old Testament, in the book of Job, chapter 1, verses 9-12, another glance into this realm is found as Satan comes before the Lord. And Satan is an angel, he's cast out of heaven, still goes to the Lord not for ministry to the Lord, but as basically the enemy of the Lord. And here he goes before the Lord and said, does Job fear God or not? In other words, there's no point for Job to fear you. I can't do anything to him anyway. Does he fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and it will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand, So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Job, was Job blessed of God? Yes. Job had great possessions, great wealth. God had indeed put a hedge about Job and Satan says, take down that hedge, let me have my way and we'll see how this man can stand. He loses his kids, he loses his possessions, he's covered in boils. And the Bible says in all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. He said, naked came I forth, naked shall I go thither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And Job, a righteous man, stood for God. But what's the point? Satan miserably attacked Job. Was Satan's desire for Job's benefit? No. It was desire for his destruction. You can almost hear 1500 years later at the cross. You can almost hear Satan come before God and say, OK, does Jesus fear you for not? And God says, have your way. Upon the disciples, have your way. Upon the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, have your way. And soon the Father even turns His back on His Son. And Christ, suffering more than any man has ever suffered, being tempted in a way that is far beyond what you or I have ever experienced, completely separated from any grace of God, yet remains faithful and obedient and goes to the cross for mankind's sin. All that He has is in that power. Even scrubbed that crowd to crucify Him. You can almost hear it. This morning, If there's a test of our faith that's taking place, it's allowed by God. Satan can't have his own way. So, the Lord knows about it. He knows this test is going to take place for his disciples, and he warns them that Satan desires to destroy them. You know, as much as God loves us this morning, Satan hates us. As much as God desires us to succeed, Satan desires for us to fail. I met a pagan. I don't know if the children know what a pagan is. A pagan is somebody that worships the earth in power. They don't worship God. And in fact, they're worshiping Satan. And I said this pagan that was coming up into Glen. They'd spent the night out there in Roslyn Glen. There were several of them coming up. I said to him, you know, I'd like to invite you to visit my church. I could tell what he was just by the way he was dressed. I knew he was a pagan. I said, I'd like to invite you to visit my church. He goes, no, I've got my own church. And I said, what's your church? And he basically says, this is my church. And I said, you know, paganism is Satanism. He goes, no. He goes, I believe in Jesus Christ because the first vision I had, it was Jesus Christ and he was arrayed in light. And I said to him, I said, you know, the Bible says that Satan dresses himself up as an angel of light. Who you saw was Satan. And of course, he didn't accept that. But here's a verse for you. Isn't this interesting? Here's a proof that the Bible is God's Holy Word. This man said this to me, having no knowledge that this is in Scripture. He said, I saw Jesus Christ and He was in light. Listen to what the Word of God says. 2 Corinthians 11, 14 and 15. And no marble for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works." Are we surprised this morning that Satan can look good? No, we ought not be. Satan has dressed himself up, why? To deceive that pagan man and take his soul to hell. That's for real. He's dressed himself up to look so good. Why? To dance so many. This morning, I promise you, if you're involved in something that's wicked, whether music, whether videos, whether anything that the world has to offer, and you say, it's fine, it's not going to hurt me, I promise you, by the authority of the Word of God, that Satan has put that in your life to destroy you. To destroy you. It's always that way. So this morning, what would God say to us with regard to conversion? Satan desires for you not to be converted. Satan desires to steal your soul and take your soul to hell. Okay? But God has given the warning. He's letting them know that this has taken place. And so Satan desires to destroy you. But we find as well, with regard to conversion, is that Jesus prays for you. Jesus prays for you. He says to Peter in verse 32, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Lord, do you love Peter? Yes. But Lord, don't you know that Satan is going to have his way in Peter's life and he's going to fail miserably. And Lord says, yes, I know. And what have you done? I prayed for thee. That's pretty awesome, isn't it? That the Lord Jesus Christ, in all his glorious power, but in his humanity, in the fact that he completely became a man, that he has this ministry of prayer, that he is interceding for us as he interceded for Peter. Peter had good intentions. He was boldly saying, Lord, I'm not going to fail you. Everybody else fails you, Lord, not me. But God knew that and Lord Jesus knew that the power of Satan was going to really hurt Peter. As he said to Peter, verse 33, Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both into prison and to death. Verse 34, he said, I tell you, Peter, The cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. He's not just going to deny, is he? We know the story. He's going to curse. He's going to fail miserably. But what? But Christ had prayed for him. We find also in the word of God about somebody that's going to be converted, somebody that's going to be in air of salvation, they're going to get saved. You know, the Bible says that there's angelic defenses for those who will be saved. You ever heard of guardian angels? You ever heard that term? Do you know that comes from an idea in scripture found in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14? And we're not speaking this morning about guardian angels, but we are speaking about angelic messengers that defend those that will be saved. And it's biblical. Hebrews 1.14. says about the angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? That there's, you know, you look in and you say, why would God allow such an attack of Satan against somebody that's going to be converted? And it's because God in his grace also has provided in his mercy defenses for those that will be less tempted. And so God's word tells us that these angels are there to minister for them who shall be saved. You know, God knows this morning in Lone Head, not just who is saved, but who will be saved. God knows not just in our family who is saved, but who will be saved. And with that knowledge, we have the greatest prayer warrior pleading his blood on our behalf. We've got angelic messengers that defend those that will get saved, but also God has a great prayer warrior pleading his blood on our behalf. Hebrews 7 verse 25 says, Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by hand, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Okay, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Is that person saved? No. He's able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. They're not saved yet. He's able to save them, but they're not saved. But what's it say about that person that's not saved? Saying he ever limit to make intercession for them. Why would Jesus pray? He's in heaven, why would He pray? You know, I think that verse means this. Somebody comes to God and they say to God, God, I'd like to get saved. And Lord Jesus looks at His Father and says, Father, see my hands? See my feet? See my thigh? Remember the blood that was shed? See the scars on my head from the crown of thorns? Father, remember my death, my resurrection. Father, save them as they come to You in my name. He bleeds the blood. He plays His sacrifice as being sufficient for anybody to be saved. Aren't you glad this morning that the Lord Jesus Christ ever lived to make intercession? Not for those that are saved, for those that will be saved, for those that will come to God. Here, we look at Peter, and we see the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ not saying, hey, it's great that this is going to take place, but Peter, I'm going to allow it, but I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you, that your faith fail not. You know, the Lord is willing to pray for you this morning, and He is praying for those that will be heirs of salvation. And then, we find as well that Jesus promises victory. He promises victory to Peter. He says to Peter, and when thou art converted, when thou art converted. Peter, when you're rightly again restored to me, Peter, when you're rightly related to me. But what's the hope for Peter? He goes through deep water. I think after the denial of Christ, he would often think of these words, Peter, when thou art converted. And take hope. and say, ah, someday I will be right with God. Because in our Lord's heart, at this time, it's one of the saddest verses of Scripture found in the Word of God. It's found after this takes place. Because the soldiers come and Jesus betrays Christ, and the Bible says in Mark 14, 50, and they all forsook Him and fled. Is that sad? You know, Lord Jesus, He's going to Calvary. He's going to pay the price for the sins of the world. And all men forsook Him and fled. And we can look at that and we can say, Disciples, what were you thinking? Why did you deny Christ? Why did you stand for Christ at that crucial hour? We can say that. But the reality is none of us would have stood on that day. Isaiah says 650 years before Christ. It says in Isaiah 53, He's despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. For whom did Christ die? He died for everybody in Lone Head, right? Right. But does everybody in Lone Head look at the cross and say, praise God, Jesus Christ died for me? No. Sadly, many of them either ignore it or despise it. You know, that's us. Without Christ, it's hate the cross, hate the man that died on the cross. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did a scheming, stricken, spitting up God and cooking. This man took on Him the sins of the world. Every bit of vileness that we've ever committed against a holy God, Jesus Christ took on Him and He paid the price for it. He stepped into our place saying, Father, I will take their punishment. And yet how few turn and say thank you to the loving God that died on the cross for their sin. Why? Because all men forsook Him and fled. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was grieved for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes, remember He was whipped, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He died for the sins of the people in London. He died for the sins of the people in Milwaukee. And he died for the sins of the British public. He died for the sins of the world. And they don't care. They don't care. Why? Because all men forsook him and fled. They all turned their back, and yet Christ here promises victory. Even though Peter would fail miserably, he turned his back on the Lord, saying, I don't know the man, I don't know the man. He cursed him, yet in God's mercy, the Lord was able to say, and when thou art converted? Why? Because God will do his part to seek a man out. John 6.37 says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise pass out. Is God able to bring somebody to his son for salvation? Yes. Yes. You know, that's encouraging to us when we seek to reach people to the Lord. You know, if God is able, the Bible says God gives the increase. Is he going to fail to do his part? No. He won't. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. As some men count slackness, but it's long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Do you want to see your mom get saved? Do you want to see your dad get saved? Do you want to see your neighbor get saved? Do you want to see your friend get saved? So does God. So does God. And God's going to do His part. But man has to do their part. Revelation 3.20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. Going back to the beginning, Simon, Simon, it's like, knock on the door, Peter has to open the door and listen to what the Lord is saying. Is it true today that God doesn't want to speak to the people of Longhead? The answer is absolutely not. God has a deep desire. In fact, God is knocking constantly in this community, trying to get men's attention. The man has to do his part to listen to God. John 3.15. says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Do you know the only thing keeping anybody from salvation in this community is themselves? That's it. It's not that God has made it really difficult and said, you know, I'm not going to let you get it, you know, you're not going to be able to understand it. It's that in man's pride and rebellion against God, they have humbled their heart to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. The only thing keeping men from salvation is themselves. And remember John 6.37, I already read it. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will no wise cast out. Jesus isn't going to say to somebody that comes to him by faith, get away from me, get away from me, or reject them. I will no wise cast out. So he's promised victory. In this area of conversion to Peter, he says, Peter, when thou art converted, it's going to work, Peter. It's going to work. Don't be disheartened. The trial is great. The separation from God is great. Don't be disheartened when thou art converted. And then Jesus commands those that are thus converted to help others. He says, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Peter had a responsibility. It wasn't just, Peter, you need to get saved, you need to get converted, you need to be right with God for your sake. Was that important for Peter? Answer, yes. But what if Peter hadn't gotten converted? Remember that message at Pentecost, Peter stands up. Again, we've already mentioned it. You have taken in my wicked hands, you have crucified and slain the Lord. How many people got saved? 5,000 men, right? 5,000. Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Peter doesn't get saved, Peter doesn't get right with God. Pentecost, in that case, as we know it in Scripture, never takes place. Do you know, we have a responsibility beyond ourself. If I'm not rightly related to the Lord, how can I guide my children in their walk with the Lord? What about my grandkids? Someday I want to reach my... I don't want just my kids to go to heaven. I want my grandkids to go to heaven. How can I reach them if I'm not saved? What about my friend? What about my neighbor? Am I so callous, so hard-hearted, so careless that I just don't care if people are damned? So I'm selfish about my own relationship with God and say it doesn't matter whether I get saved or not. It's only going to affect me. That's wrong. That's wrong. My salvation affects everybody else as well that I love and I care about. Why? Because they need to get saved too. Do I not care if they're going to go to hell? People ask me all the time and say, you know, why, why do you bother? Here I'm talking to somebody. They don't believe in God. They just think you die, you go in the grave and that's it. Why are you trying to convince me otherwise? And I'll say to them, you know what? If you knew somebody was going to walk into a burning building, would you do anything about it? Would you just not care? Say, well, you know what? They're having a good time. Look how much fun they're having on their way to that burning building. I don't want to mess that up. And if I tell them the building's burning, then they're going to be worried and they're going to be burdened and they're not going to know what to do with their life. You know what? I care more about the fact, and I had this this morning. I spoke to somebody in the community about the Lord. I'm not sure this person, I hope they're not offended. But you know what, I'd rather offend them, trying to keep them out of hell, than never say anything to them, just act like life's okay, and let them walk onto hell. Because hell is real. And there's a God in heaven, Jesus Christ, that died on the cross for their sin. And they can know for sure that they're saved. And they can know peace with God. And they can have joy in life. And they can have all the blessing of salvation. And I'm not so selfish with my salvation that I'm not going to speak to them about the Lord. When thou art converted, strengthen the brethren. Conversion is not an end, it's just the beginning. As we come to Christ. That's why, again, I say this morning, Christianity is not just a name. Christianity is not just saying, well, I'm a Christian, and here's me and my sin. And I'm just going to keep sinning and say, I'm a Christian. No. It's not Christ. A Christian is somebody that identifies with Christ, is willing to take the suffering of Christ. That's somebody that's converted and rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ, whether in areas of consecration and saying, I'm saved and I'm going to serve God. Or whether they've never been saved before and they're converted to Christ by salvation, saying, I'm going to identify with Christ. How would that take place? Well, this morning, it would be God speaking to you. And it has to be the answer of your heart before God, saying, God, are you speaking to me? Because Jesus begins by saying to Simon, Simon, Simon. He's trying to get his attention. Then Satan's not going to let you easily turn to Jesus. He's going to do everything in his power. Why? Because his desire is to destroy you. He wants to destroy you. But what? But Jesus is praying. He's pleading his blood. He's saying, Father, see my hands, see my feet. If they want to get saved, they can get saved because I paid it all. I paid the price. He's promised a victory for those who return. If somebody this morning wants to get saved, they can get saved. Peter, when thou art converted, when? Not if, when? He wants you to get victory. Why? Because there's other people that depend upon you. The people that you care about most are the people that are going to go to hell if you're not rightly related to God. And it's going to be partly your fault. That's sad. That outputs the fear of God into any one of us thinking, you know, I have a great responsibility as a dad, and with my children, that I know the Word of God, that I know Jesus Christ, and that I'm saved. Why? Because hell's real. What a damnable father that would let their children go to hell without seeking out the truth of the Word of God. And heaven forbid, those others that we love should go to hell because we never accepted the truth of God ourselves. May God help us to truly be converted and true Christians and take a stand for the Lord. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the word of God this morning. I pray, Father, have your way. I pray the Holy Spirit would deeply work in our hearts. It's our desire that in our church we would have truly converted people. Father, we don't want a social club. Father, it's not our desire this morning to have large numbers of people here merrily on their way to hell because we don't have the courage to lovingly tell them that there's a God in heaven that sent his son, Jesus Christ, to pay the complete price for sin. on the cross, and that their sin is worthy of damnation, but that they can have Jesus Christ by faith, and accepting God's gift and God's pardon, that they can be converted from a lifestyle that's reprobate, hard-hearted, hating God, to a life that's right with God. to a bold stand for the Lord Jesus Christ where they suffer persecution because they identified with Christ in their life. God help us to have that kind of Christianity, not in name only, but in what we do, and how we live, and how we're like Christ. Would you help us? It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.